Evacuation underway in Kashechewan, Ont., due to spring flooding of Albany River
A precautionary evacuation of about 600 people from Kashechewan First Nation is underway with the first group arriving in Kapuskasing on Friday.
The annual spring flooding of the Albany River has yet to begin, but officials aren’t taking any chances.
“The evacuation certainly is going to happen,” said Joe Tom Sayers, general manager for Missanabe Cree Business Corp.
“We're planning for at least a two-week stay within our normal sites. The river levels are being monitored daily by the community and natural resources. We're getting daily briefings from them as far as the risk of the dike being actually breached or not -- and whether or not, you know, there has to be an additional number of members being evacuated due to more serious risk for.”
Sayers said other locations community members have chosen for this year’s evacuation include Timmins, Smooth Rock Falls, Val-Rita Harty and, for the first time, Kirkland Lake and Barrie. Flights will resume this weekend and on Monday and Tuesday.
“We have made arrangements with the City of Barrie to host the most vulnerable folks with things like dialysis and other types of critical medical needs and of course their family members,” said Sayers.
Closer to home
“We also have other sites where we're sending the remaining folks to across northern Ontario. There's always been a preference for the community to stay as close as possible to their home and within their traditional territory.”
This is the first year that the evacuation is entirely Indigenous-led. Missanabie Cree First Nation and Kashechewan First Nation established the partnership earlier this year. They said this collaboration is the first step towards First Nations managing their own emergencies.
“We're in the process of constructing an 800-room emergency evacuation shelter in the Missanabie Cree First Nation Reserve that should be available for occupancy in the early spring of 2025,” said Sayers.
“So we're about halfway through the construction of that particular facility. It's an investment which means the community of Missanabie and the federal government of about $70 million. So not a lot of small ask, but it's definitely something that's been a long time in coming.”
Sayers said this means this could be the last year for large-scale evacuations from the James Bay Coast, but he said it’s a community’s decision where they ultimately want to go.
He said the shelter can also be used for emergencies other than floods.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Alberta's request for federal assistance approved after fast-moving wildfire hit Jasper National Park: Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on social media that Ottawa has approved Alberta's request for federal assistance after a fast-moving wildfire hit Jasper National Park and its townsite late Wednesday.
Jasper mayor says alert system to be reviewed after message 'glitch'
More than 25,000 people have been displaced from Jasper National Park since wildfires started to threaten the picturesque corner of Alberta Rockies on Monday, but the mayor of its namesake municipality says not everyone received an evacuation alert when it was sent out.
Canada's premiers forced to confront escalating climate change-related disasters
Many of Canada's provincial and territorial leaders remained consumed by climate change-related natural disasters that have only escalated since they met for meetings in Halifax last week.
Biden explains why he ended re-election bid in Oval Office address
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday delivered a solemn call to voters to defend the country's democracy as he laid out in an Oval Office address his decision to drop his bid for reelection and throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Unclaimed bodies are piling up in Newfoundland. A funeral director blames the government
A funeral director in St. John's says the bodies piling up in freezers at Newfoundland and Labrador's largest hospital likely belong to people whose loved ones couldn't get enough government help to pay for a funeral.
U.K. police officer suspended after video appears to show a man being kicked in head
A British police officer was suspended from all duties Thursday after a video was posted on social media that appeared to show an officer kicking and stamping on the head of a man lying on the floor of a terminal at Manchester Airport.
Norad intercepts Russian and Chinese bombers operating together near Alaska in apparent first
The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) intercepted two Russian and two Chinese bombers flying near Alaska Wednesday in what appears to be the first time the two countries have been intercepted while operating together.
Barrie-Innisfil MPP 'blacked-out' and crashed car into window of child care centre
Staff at a Barrie child care centre say they are frustrated by what they call a local MPP's inadequate response after a car crashed through a window in one of the toddler rooms.
Monday breaks the record for the hottest day ever on Earth
Driven by oceans that won't cool down, an unseasonably warm Antarctica and worsening climate change, Earth's record hot streak dialed up this week, making Monday the hottest day humans have measured.